Question: Verbose hogwash!?
Do you not think that a lot of philosophers, psychologists, psychiatrists, therapist and "theorists" just use verbose long winded word to state what is often the bleeding obvious!?!?
Seems like people invent a pseudo-language to make their own ideas seem elitist and intellectual!. But if you strip things down to the bare bones, the basic concepts are usually nothing new, revealing or enlightening!.
People use language to rehash things already noted and known!. People use long words to make themselves look intelligent and to build a barrier!. Why can't people state what they mean in plain English!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Couldn't agree with you more!. I remember the principle at my school used to write these stupid newsletters, which read like he'd been sitting there with the thesaurus open looking for the longest word he could get away with!. Ridiculous!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Hmmm, seems to me you can make a very strong case for either side of this argument!. One to think about!. I must admit my knee-jerk reaction is to agree with you but on contemplation I can think of many instances when I've had difficulty explaining concepts because of the limitations and ambiguity of language!. Again I say hmmmm!. I think this one might actually keep me awake tonight!Www@QuestionHome@Com
Allow me to quote someone who is in many ways much smarter than myself:
"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler!."
"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother!."
Both from Albert Einstein, of course!. While it is nice to be proficient in the obscure turn of phrase, the only purposes for which their use is justified is brevity and obscurity!.
I tend to agree with you that more people are shooting for the latter than the former when they do this!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I agree to an extent!. Wittgenstein said a lot about this very thing!. We play 'language games' that only people within our group can understand but usually have a simple meaning!. However in many fields words can be very ambiguous, so they sometimes need to make new words so other people in their 'group' know exactly what they mean!.
It does however get annoying when they use them with us and expect us know know what they mean
Richard Dawkins is a notable exception!. His books are understandable to non-biologists and use minimal technical language!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
verbose / hogwash / pseudo / rehash - these are words used in the question like a philosopher or psychologist and seemed to be not common for the common people and common conversational english !. The questioner has used such metaphoric language with expectation others to use the simple english !. Is it worthwhile or justifies !?Www@QuestionHome@Com
That's one way to look at it, but there might be another!.
Know how words are so important to lawyers!?
They are, because they MUST be concise when
they are talking about legal concepts!. The same
thing probably about matters of thought, brain
function, mental illness, et!.al!.
It is very easy to say something, where you mean
one thing, and the other person thinks you mean
something entirely different, this has happen to
you, yes!? It has to me!.
Get my point!? Hmmmmmm!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
The fear of losing significance is a powerful language motivator!.
They want to be noticed!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
I think simplicity of an expression signify its closeness to the truth as well to real life where the audience of an expression normally are!.
This however might not be possible to put purely abstract ideas and notions so simply in concrete words!. I can for instance use analogies, metaphors and allegories to bring home the to someone what I think life is!. I could put in simple words of my own what life means to me in terms of my thoughts and feelings, but that picture of life is most likely to be perfectly my own!. An if I try to instantiate the meaning of life using example borrowed from the concrete reality of life as in the example of a tree or that of a lit candle than I am more likely to make immediate sense of someone else, but this I would do at the cost of being involved, emotionally meaningful, personally precise and accurate!. I therefore would search for the ways to express the meanings the best, and to bridge the gap between the reality of the world and my ideal!.
But when we come to deal with abstract ideas and exact notions purely for the purpose of intellectual discussion then, I believe, a specific langue start to gradually evolve out of that purpose!. In order to encapsulate and understand exact scientific concepts, for instance, I would need special terminology!. I could tell that something is a substance, but a substance is too generic a term for any practical use, there has to be precise description of a substance to tell it from the rest in terms of its specific properties!. Then what if I use the phases ‘the world’, ‘the universe’, ‘the existence’ and life indiscriminately; and what is the difference between ‘a thing’ and ‘an entity’!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
I agree with you!. !.!.!. to a point!.
I think that it is essential to keep language simple!. The simpler, the easier its understood and the more ears and eyes get to hear and read it!.
But, unfortunately, the more intellectual ideas become, the more necessary concise terminology becomes!.
Often times I am told something!.!.!. and I think I understood!.!.!. because I did!. But it turns out I misunderstood because the language was vaguely defined!.
Over-specificity can be a hindrance, too!. Redundant redundancies, to say nothing of words and phrases with duplicate meanings!.!.!. can make for some pretty dry reading!.
I dont think any non-technical word should be more than five syllables long, thats for sure!.
Sometimes I say the same thing more than once for emphasis, or to ensure I get the exact, intended meaning across!. But beyond that!.!.!.
Deductive logic and reasoning, also, loses its effectiveness when a word has more than one meaning!. The logic might be valid and infallible with one meaning, used to prove validity!.!.!. but the alternate meaning is used linguistically to formulate the argument, which is actually invalidity!.!.!. but it is obscured, manipulation of rhetoric!.
But youre right though!.!.!. the simple fact is, if no one understands your big vocabulary, are you any more inept at communication than the guy that cant piece two words together!? Language is for communication, nothing more!. There comes a point where the benefits of learning more words dont overcome the consequences!.!.!. the point of diminishing returns!.
Its one thing to have a high vocabulary, capable of understanding people who speak and the books you read!. Its quite another thing to use that vocabulary yourself to communicate to others!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
"But if you strip things down to the bare bones, the basic concepts are usually nothing new, revealing or enlightening!."
- Oh, so string theory and mtheory, theories of dimensions, quantum mechanics equations,law of thermodynamics, etc were all beyond obvious!? Please explain to me why e = mc^2
Sometimes you need long words to describe certain things!.
We dont always use more "pseudo-language" to look intelligent, most people use more "pseudo-language" to help other people understand better!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
It has been this ones personal experience that philosophers attempt to use language in such a manner as to be as precise as possible in the expounding and presentation of their idea as such can be both difficult to present accurately due to the limited nature of language and difficult for others to understand often due to their limited abilities in properly utilizing language!.
Certain theorist often face a dilemma similar to that faced by the philosophers for the same reasons!.
Western psychology, with assigning of labels and the accompanying "blessing" of allowing others to claim they are the victim of others rather than of their own choices is, as is the practice of "law" , a self perpetuating business system wherein, if the practitioners of the same did not hide such with clever phrases and gimmicks, they would not be able to continue to sell their "products"!.
One of the most disturbing of recent trends is that of persons in many Western nations and cultures no longer working with diligence and effort so as to acquire language skills which would enable them to more accurately relay their own ideas and understandings but which would also enable them to see through the pretense of others and their manipulation of language in manner which appear often less then honest!. In the United States, such has been noted as the "dumbing of America"!.
Be well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com